Queensland Roar moved up to third on the Hyundai A-League ladder with an exciting 2-1 win over Joel Griffiths at Suncorp Stadium tonight.
With the visitors reduced to 10 men with 20 minutes to go, it was Sergio Van Dyk who grabbed the winner for Queensland with a well-taken left-foot volley in the 89th minute of the game.
It was a game which had as many twists and turns as a James Bond movie (not the most recent one, one of the good old ones from the 60s with Sean Connery in it). Joel Griffiths once again played the role of evil super-villain mustering the forces of darkness, tormenting the Queensland defence, and scoring his customary goal against them.
But in the end the good guys prevailed, with Mitch Nichols playing the role of captain of the cavalry, rescuing the settlers from the marauding Indians and restoring peace and harmony in the village.
Before the movie cliches get out of hand (too late!), I should go back to the start.
Queensland Roar, minus their injured Scottish playmaker Charlie Miller, lined up in an attacking 4-3-3. Newcastle's formation was 4-4-1-1, with James Holland providing support to Joel Griffiths. Newcastle weren't defensive, as Thompson and Elrich were always quick to join the attack.
The early exchanges proved nothing. McKay was buzzing around looking likely for Queensland, Wheelhouse was providing some spark for the visitors.
Newcastle had a half-chance in the 21st minute, when a mix-up between Luke DeVere and Liam Reddy gifted the ball to Tarek Elrich. Elrich tried to lay the ball back to Griffiths but the pass was under-hit and DeVere recovered.
On the counter attack, Tahj Minniecon set off on a trademark surging dribble, but only laid the ball of to Massimo Murdocca to shoot. I am on record that I will walk home from Suncorp Stadium the night that Murdocca scores with a shot from outside the penalty area. So far I feel pretty safe.
Newcastle, or should I say The Nemesis Himself (a certain J. Griffiths) took the lead after 26 minutes. The Roar had men committed forward in attack, but lost the ball. When Jobe Wheelhouse received it he looked up, and hit a fine pass to Griffiths, who timed his run to perfection, outpaced the defence, and dinked the ball over Liam Reddy. It was a simple yet classy goal, and it was the 254th time that Griffiths has scored against the Roar (no, you look it up).
Joel Griffiths has scored so many times against the Roar that the local supporters have a special song for him. Some of the words are directed at their own defence ("mark Joel Griffiths"), but the rest are unprintable, like most of their songs.
Soon after Newcastle's goal, Danny Tiatto was booked for going into a tackle with his studs up. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've typed that as well.
Things seemed to be going predictably bad at home for the Roar, and a kind of resignation settled over the 11,048 present at Suncorp Stadium.
However, there was no resignation in Frank Farina's mind. He boldly subbed Mitch Nichols on for Andy Packer (right fullback), and Queensland's formation looked more like 3-4-3 than anything else. Nichols played as an attacking central midfielder, providing close support to Sergio Van Dyk.
And the move paid off. In the dying moments of the half, Queensland won a corner on the right. McKay worked the angles with Murdocca, and put over the curling cross. Nichols ghosted in at the far post, Charlie Miller-like. His diving header was low and well away from Covic, but close enough to Adam Griffiths. However, Griffiths could only shin it into his own net.
1-1 at the break, and although Queensland had slightly more possession than Newcastle, they were lucky to be level.
The second half saw a more open game as legs got heavy on the recently relaid Suncorp surface.
Queensland had plenty of possession, and were making good in-roads into the Newcastle defence. Mark Milligan and Jade North were frequently at full stretch to keep the home team at bay.
On the counter attack, Joel Griffiths continued to look ultra-dangerous. He went close in the 54th minute. There was no way this game was going to peter out into a draw.
For Queensland, Mitch Nichols was starring. His hustle won the ball for Minniecon, whose pace got him past Milligan, but the resulting cross was way wild.
A couple of minutes later, Matt Thompson showed Minniecon how to cross, when he whipped a low ball across the Roar six-yard box. The only reason Joel Griffiths didn't score was that he had laid the pass on for Thompson and was therefore in the wrong spot.
Nichols fed Minniecon again, and he surged forward on a diagonal run. Wheelhouse body-checked him to the ground, and received a yellow card for it. As he had already received a yellow card in the first half, for an innocuous looking high-feet challenge on Van Dyk, that was the cue for Wheelhouse to have first go at the showers tonight.
With Queensland a man up, it was 20 minutes of desperation defending for the visitors. Farina's last throw of the dice was to bring on 17-year-old Tommy Oar, another of the Roar's young guns. Oar is yet another pacey left-footed attacker.
He started brightly, whipping in a great cross that just needed a runner at the far post.
A couple of minutes later, Oar showed his confidence to step up for a free kick about 25 metres out from goal. The young man packs plenty of power in his shot, and it was deflected off the wall for a corner.
In the 82 minute, Oar played the ball forward for McKay who got close to the byline and turned the ball back to van Dyk. His reflex header just floated over.
In the 87th minute, Queensland unbelievably failed to score. With ball after ball going into the Newcastle box, finally it was cleared out, to the feet of Danny Tiatto. Tiatto's left foot rocket from the edge of the box smashed into the left upright and came out. Nichols got the crumbs and turned the ball into the path of Michael Zullo. Zullo's shot hit the corner of upright and crossbar and also somehow, somehow stayed out.
But for once, Queensland were not done. With no time left, Tiatto surged forward again down the left, receiving the pass from Oar. His whipped-in cross was met at the near post by van Dyk, who turned his volley into the net across Covic.
Jubilation for the local fans. A second home win in a row. Suncorp is a long way from being a fortress, but two on the trot is a start.